Students culture and values integrate into what they consume. Schools have taken into consideration those components and have altered the school lunch to match their preferences. For instance, in January 204, the California Department of Education demonstrated how the Jewish community would be benefited from alternations that were implemented. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food and Nutrition Service declared During the religious observance of Passover, Jewish agencies from the enrichment and whole grain portions of the CNP grain requirements (Nutrition Service Division). Since religion obligates students to subsequently change their eating patterns due to required ceremonies, institutions must be flexible in the choices they provide. Moreover, schools provide with options that are substitutes for the foods that are restricted for some. For example, the Nutrition Service Division explains Serve vegetables in place of dark green vegetables that come from red and orange vegetables or beans and peas subgroups (Variations in Meals for Religious Reasons). To further prove that schools accommodate students preferences, they also provide additional options to substitute the food they would originally eat. Nevertheless, schools can change their menus to provide students with the appropriate lunch that is to their liking.
Most prominently seen today, financial crises could arise which could cause many to be put into a financial struggle leading to the need for free school lunches. For
instance, the year 2020 was a year like no other, in the sense that many students parents did not have money to provide for food, because the COVID-9 pandemic caused them to lose their jobs. Many parents depended on a school to give them lunch which would take some weight off their shoulders. To prove this, an article titled Should all American kids get a free school lunch? The pandemic might make that a reality, states The Cares Act $600 unemployment benefit ended this week and moratoriums on eviction are lifting many places on Saturday. (Reiley). Once the pressure to pay debt and bills start to pile up, parents would have to figure out how to provide food for their children. However, schools are willing to provide students with free school lunches as expressed by Regie Ross, the SNA president, in the article which asserts With so many families struggling&during the pandemic, millions more students will depend on consistent, daily access to school meals this fall. (qt. in Reiley). More than ever, free school lunches are necessary since students and parents cannot tolerate the financial pressure, they have accumulated because of the pandemic. Even before the COVID-9 pandemic started, families were heavily relying on free school lunches that would feed their children on a regular basis. In brief, financially easing the worries of families during a time in which finding a job is extremely difficult, can make free school lunches seem like a positive outcome in this dreadful situation.